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National Govt & Politics

Posted: February 17, 2017

White House denies considering using National Guard for immigration round-ups

Mark Wilson

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 08: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions from reporters during the daily press briefing at the White House February 8, 2017 in Washington, DC. Spicer fielded questions about President Donald Trump's executive order travel ban, his effort to replace Obamacare and other topics (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

By
Theresa Seiger

Cox Media Group National Content Desk

The White House on Friday denied the veracity of an Associated Press report that claimed that President Donald Trump is considering using the National Guard to "round up unauthorized immigrants."

"That is 100 percent not true. It is false," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, according to The Hill. "It is irresponsible to be saying this."

The Associated Press reported that the Trump administration was considering deploying as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up illegal immigrants in places as far north as Portland, Oregon, and as far east as New Orleans. The wire service cited an 11-page draft memo written by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and dated Jan. 25.

An unidentified official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told Cox Media Group that the memo was "a very early, pre-decisional draft" that was "never seriously considered."

A DHS official says memo was "a very early, pre decisional draft... and was never seriously considered by the Department"

According to the AP, the draft memo was sent to the heads of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection and was meant to support an executive order on border security signed Jan. 25.

Among other things, the order increased the number of border patrol agents and expanded the number of immigration enforcement officers able to deport illegal immigrants.

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